Coldreaver
by Neon Genesis Juliet
Summary: In the Nexus, a tragedy will befall our unlikely band of adventurers. One Troll's hardest lesson in loss.


Author's Note: First timer for WoW fanfics here, and a returning writer who's been on hiatus for several years now. I used to write for Golden Sun and a bit of FullMetal Alchemist on the side, years ago in high school, but I've not gotten the urge to write back until this piece popped into my head; bear with me if I'm rusty.

Feel free to offer constructive criticism; don't hold back if you think it could improve me. I'm very bad at the technical side of writing, so lay it on me, but do so gently. ;3 Thanks for taking the time to read, and on with the show.

Rated T: mostly for violence, one word dropped.

Disclaimer: The dragons, the setting of the world, and the concepts for all the races in this story belong to Blizzard. Their relationships and interactions are the only thing I claim as my own.

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Coldreaver

The party of five stood outside the chamber which housed the frozen red dragon. "She's huge..." mumbled the spotty Tauren, stood behind the others. Hegeg moved up closer to the paladin, their mail and plate armor clanking as she placed a lanky arm on the Blood Elf. "Dere she is, Flan. De very t'ing we're here to get free." Flan nodded, stoic as ever, and pulled ahead and away from the group and into the chamber. A few steps in and she and the blue dragon magus spotted each other, the magus letting out a shriek while Flandre drew her shield and sword, her ponytail flapping with the rapid movement.

The resonating crack from her shield hitting the dragonkin alerted the rest of her allies, and their attention was drawn and the charge began. Quick work was made of the drone, its spilled blood thickening on the icy ground and turning dark. "Go eat, Faux," the Tauren said to her owl, Flandre shuddering as she heard the bird rip at and devour the flesh of the fallen with a happy hoot. The Orc turned to inspect the iceblocked dragon as the rogue, grinning like a ghostly cheshire cat, pulled two vials of her most deadly poison from her vest, applying them to her daggers.

"Are we about ready?" The Orc's impatience could be heard in her harsh words. "Everyone?" Flandre asked of the group, turning to face them. The rogue's painted lips continued to grin wickedly as she locked eyes with the green skinned warrior. The Tauren called up her bird and nodded respectively to Flandre. The paladin turned towards the Troll, "Hegeg…?" "Ya know I'm always behind ya, Flan. Let's face her." She tried to make her words encouraging, to show the faith that she put into her companion every time they set foot into battle.

With that, the lither of the two Elves with them started towards one of the three icy orbs in the chamber, calling, "Kahrah!" prompting the Orc to venture towards another. The ranger backed off a distance and drew her bow, arrow poised and at the ready; Hegeg threw down totems, symbols of power to aid them; Flandre had her sword and shield drawn, standing like a brick wall in front of the great ruby monster. They were prepared to fight and were fully aware that the dragon may offer them no choice; she was under the command of the enemy, Malygos, Raelorasz had told them. The last orb was gotten to by Kahrah, just as the rogue slipped into the shadows; the ice fell from around the beast, and she bellowed, "Preserve? Why? There's no truth in it. No no no...only in the taking! I see that now!" Keristrasza was freed, and she did not appear pleased with the adventurers.

Not one to let the enemy strike first, Flandre loosed a blow on her leg, grabbing the dragon's attention. "Faux, kill!" commanded the horned bowman as she let her poisoned arrow fly, whizzing right above her pet, also flying to rip at the corrupted dragon. The warrior poised her blood-caked axe and struck at her left hind leg, the Elf sinking her blades into her right. The air began to thicken, humidify, and turn unnaturally warm for an cave covered in ice; Flandre was familiar with this feeling. Hegeg was summoning a fire elemental, most likely to help her do everything she could to keep the party from freezing to death in what could easily become their tomb.

The dragon smashed and clawed Flandre with much more vigor than the strawberry blonde Elf herself could manage; despite Hegeg's flame elemental, the temperature was rapidly dropping. Still, she could feel Hegeg faithfully washing over her like the tide, renewing her, closing wounds as they happened, strengthening her, and she was grateful once again that the Troll had her back. Strange as it was, the shaman had had so much more impact on her life than she would like to admit. She'd always been wary of Trolls; she was an Elf, it was her nature to distrust them, at the least until they proved themselves. Even if they managed that, she stayed well clear of most. But there was something different with Hegeg. She'd gone above and beyond with showing her true colors to the paladin. They had saved each other on many occasions, defended each other to a tee; Hegeg had even gone with Flan, humbly, to Silvermoon City, knowing it would estrange her from her tribe, that they may eventually cast her out when word arose. And why? To prove to Flandre that the wild-looking Troll was more docile and loyal than Elven society preached. It warmed and confused her all at the same time.

This reverie of Flandre's was cut short as she heard the dragon thunder, "Stay! Enjoy your final moments," and suddenly felt the ice rise up around her, freezing her feet to the ground, rising up to her legs and entrenching her. Flandre let forth a noise of surprise and Hegeg went berserk at their leader's entrapment; everyone attacked harder and fiercer, bloody and battered though they were, on their last ounces of strength. If she wasn't broken out of the ice fast, they knew, the deep freeze would sustain her serious nerve damage. With the holy one unable to do anything to save the others, the dragon let the ice do its work and turned on the Orc and the Elf behind her. She thrashed the warrior against the wall and knocked the rogue to the ground, snapping her left arm under her great foot. The trampled girl screamed in pain as Hegeg tried furiously to divide her energy equally between the rogue's now broken appendage, the warrior, and her precious Flandre.

"Faux! Go for the throat!" the Tauren shouted, warranting an avian shriek in reply; she began aiming for the throat herself. Flandre shuddered, yet trapped, as the elemental floated over and began attempting to melt the ice best it could and yelled, "No! We're not here to kill her; we need to take her alive!" She could hear Kahrah hack up blood as she charged and slashed the breast of the beast, spilling enough of Keristrasza's blood to knock her unconscious. With that, the cold began to slowly subside.

"Maryweada, ya know first aid, right?" Hegeg asked frantically. "I do. My mother was a healer..." the Tauren panted as she patted Faux, "Good boy." "Help Kahrah and Cheza, I need to melt dis ice." Maryweather nodded and rushed over to the two, getting Kahrah's help to create a makeshift splint for the rogue's broken arm out of pieces of Kahrah's tinder. Hegeg and the elemental had nearly rescued the brave paladin, and they all gathered in the center of the room, around her. Hegeg began chanting and washing over all of them with her remaining energy, closing the deeper wounds everyone had sustained. She warned Cheza, "Dis may hurt a little," Cheza clenched her teeth ad Hegeg sent a concentrated blast of the last of her energy at her arm to set the bone right and allow what natural healing the splint would accomplish.

Kahrah began making a fire, and at last the ruby headed shaman turned to Flan. She scooped the Elf up into her lap, braids brushing the face below hers, and she was shocked that the body was as cold to the touch as it had gotten; she began panicking. "Flan?" she shook her, "Flandre!" Flandre's body was limp in the Troll's comparatively big hands. She looked so little like that, and Hegeg noticed that her skin was tinged a paler color; a shade closer to the Troll's own than Flan's normally was. She looked over her body; not much blood, her healing would have taken care of all but the most major of wounds. Hegeg looked up at the others. "You t'ree... Go an' tell Raelorasz we got Keristrasza subdued. And watch out for da damn Alliance out dere. Even if when we work to a common goal, dey'll stab you in da back." Maryweather offered a hand to each Kahrah and Cheza to help them up, hurried to get help and do as Hegeg said. Hegeg had been sure one of the bloodthirsty two would have protested, but perhaps they saw the fear in her eyes and decided to let the wolf lie, so to speak.

Hegeg laid her companion's body on the ground and began to remove the cobalt chestpiece on Flandre. She dropped it hastily to the ground with a dull clank, a thick woolen shirt protecting the revealed body from the cold, as if it actually did anything, and pressed her ear against the Elf's chest. She waited...but she heard nothing. Maybe her hearing was failing her; her blood was pounding awfully loud in her veins. She lifted up her head, growing more jittery by the minute, and placed her hand where Flan's heart was. She couldn't feel anything beating through the shirt. She checked her wrists and her neck, but she couldn't get a pulse. Nothing. Guilt overwhelmed her; she had no idea that this would happen, yet she was already blaming herself for paying more heed to what Keristrasza was doing to those mercenaries than her best friend as she was trapped. "Ya dumb Elf... Ya name be Coldreaver, you're its bane, not da ot'er way around. How could ya let dat bit of ice kill ya...?" She was shaking Flan and crying, tears hitting her fair face. Flandre did not stir in response.

The three had returned and they, along with Raelorasz, stood outside the chamber watching Hegeg's shaking back. Kahrah turned to the conscious red dragon and said, "Let's give her a moment; she's not in any danger. We'll wait outside for her." Kahrah put her arms up and guided the other three out, the sound of Hegeg's sobs for the fallen trailing after them, haunting them, from the crystalline heart of the Nexus.


End file.
